It’s inevitable in sports. It’s impossible to avoid and even more difficult to ignore.

And few, whether it be individuals or teams, can say they have never lost.

But many will. And it will gnaw at them, even consuming some.

But Jake Ellenberger gets it.

“You see the top guys, in many sports, any sport from football to combat sports to one-on-one, it’s who can be resilient and really grow and learn from failure,” Ellenberger said. “Everybody’s gonna fail, especially in this competition. For me, it’s taking what I can and move it forward.”

Ellenberger says it as a man who owns, for the first time in his MMA career, a two-fight losing streak.

The UFC’s seventh-ranked welterweight gets the opportunity to right his record when he faces No. 11 Kelvin Gastelum as the co-main event at UFC 180 on Saturday in Mexico City.

Keep in mind those two losses weren’t exactly to palookas.

He dropped a unanimous decision — criticized as “lackluster” by UFC President Dana White — to No. 2 Rory McDonald last year.

And after nursing a hamstring injury, Ellenberger got back into the Octagon in May against top-ranked Robbie Lawler in a showdown of powerful punchers. But it was Lawler who teed off early and often, battering Ellenberger for three rounds before earning a TKO victory.

Afterward, White said Ellenberger “had a lot of work to do.” And Ellenberger (29-8, 8-4 UFC), who suffered an orbital fracture, would be the first to agree.

“It’s tough to deal with any failure. It’s tough to deal with. But for me, just small things. As much as it hurts to lose and to lose to a guy like Robbie, I learned a lot,” Ellenberger, 29, said. “We’ve gained so much. And that’s the thing a lot of people didn’t see. Two steps forward, one step back that kind of thing.”

Going into the fight with Lawler, the Huntington Beach resident had decided to begin training with Edmond Tarverdyan at Glendale Fighting Club in Glendale.

And considering the circumstances — coming off a loss, overcoming an injury, changing fight camps — Ellenberger and Tarverdyan said they did the best they could.

“It was tough that camp. We tried to make it the best possible, but mentally and physically and everything, I would say the physical was ready,” Tarverdyan said. “Mental aspect and the sparring sessions weren’t the way it should have been. He wasn’t taking the shots the way he should have and he wasn’t comfortable because of the longtime layoff and coming off a loss and having a bigger challenge.”

So after letting Ellenberger’s eye heal, the two got back to work. They trained, honed and polished without fretting an opponent or fight strategy.

In turn, Ellenberger found balance — not only in his arsenal of punches, kicks, knees, elbows and takedowns — but from an emotional standpoint.

Instead of complacency, the familiarity with Tarverdyan and their regimen brought peace of mind.

“And that’s what this last year has been. Working on things that I need to get better at. Being more comfortable, being more balanced. And just overall being more aggressive and attacking,” the Nebraska native said. “So that’s really kind of what I’m moving forward to going into this fight, is being more aggressive. But seeing things better. Having a better vision and having better balance.

“When you relax, you see things better. You see things better, you move better, you can defend things easier. And overall just gives me more confidence.”

Ring generalship and rhythm are central to the game plan. Being assertive and dictating the pace against Gastelum (10-0, 4-0 UFC) are considered the keys to victory.

Ellenberger knows he’s going up against an undefeated up-and-comer of Hispanic descent, which should play well in Mexico City, but he also likes that the winner of Season 17 of “The Ultimate Fighter” is not afraid to move forward and engage.

As for the whispers he might be on the decline after 37 fights in less than 10 years, Ellenberger says not to put too much into his last two performances.

“I’m a completely different fighter since that last fight. And that really attributes to just working hard in the offseason too,” he said. “The two or three months I worked with Edmond before I had a fight scheduled, that was huge. For me, it keeps everything believing in what I’m doing and believing in what Edmond is teaching me and moving forward.”